Blackburn director Shebby Singh calls on fans to put 'squabbles' aside and get behind Steve Kean and the team

Blackburn director Shebby Singh, the football pundit turned administrator
charged with restoring normality to English football’s most dysfunctional
club, has urged Steve Kean’s players to show the ‘strength of character’ to
move on from the ‘squabbles’ that have overshadowed their build-up to the
season.

Under pressure: Shebby SIngh has called on the Blackburn fans to get behind Steve Kean and the team (Action Images)

Singh, who has called for a ‘truce’ with Blackburn’s protesting supporters ahead of the team’s first home game since relegation from the Premier League tonight, angered manager Kean and his players by describing Norwegian midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen as a ‘pensioner’ who has ‘lost his legs,’ during a recent fans’ forum.

The incident sparked a rift between Kean’s squad and Singh, a former Malaysia international and respected pundit in the Far East, before being resolved prior to Saturday’s Championship opener against Ipswich at Portman Road.

But having been handed the title of Global Advisor and appointed as the Ewood Park representative of Blackburn’s Indian owners, Venky’s, Singh insists that the time has come for everybody involved with the club to unite.

“There was one silly, tongue-in-cheek remark which didn’t go down too well and for that, I apologise,” said Singh, in relation to his remarks about Pedersen.

“But if what happened last week is still playing on people’s minds, that cannot be. You have to show strength of character for the challenges ahead rather than focus on a few words said.

“Families have squabbles, siblings have squabbles. Let us not blow this out of proportion because the main objective - promotion back to the Premier League -- will always be there.

“We can all be very nice to each other, but then what? Is that a guarantee that success can be achieved?

“Little squabbles will happen, but you move on. In any walk of life, you move on.

“I have been in football for so long, though, and I know how it works. Little things that are a storm in a teacup are often allowed to become a typhoon.”

Such was the apparent anger from the squad towards Singh that the players are understood to have made it clear that he would no longer be welcomed on the team bus.

“Why would I want to be on the bus?” Singh said. “I am not in a position where I want to be on the bus!

“I spent half my life, 18 years as a footballer, on coaches and I dread coach trips, but sometimes, little minds think very small.”

With Blackburn’s relegation last season being played out to a backdrop of hostility and bitterness from the supporters, directed equally at Kean and Venky’s, Singh admits his role as a bridge-builder is not an easy one.

The affable 51-year-old, a lifelong Tottenham supporter who has worked alongside the likes of Steve McMahon, Bryan Robson and Lee Sharpe during his time as a Singapore-based pundit, concedes that restoring normality at Blackburn will take time.

Singh said: “I was fully aware of the situation at the club when I was offered the job, so I arrived here with my eyes fully open.

“But maybe this is the ideal scenario, to come here when the point has come where things can only get better.

“The team can only get better, staff morale can only get better and so can relationships with the fans.

“When I arrived on my first morning, I realised it was worse than I thought, so I had to rethink my strategy to make it better for everyone.

“I had a meeting with 600 fans at an open dialogue meeting and, personally, I feel I have won some of them over. They were willing to share their opinions and thoughts, so hopefully that is one battle won.

“But it isn’t possible for it to be a fresh start from tomorrow. It could take months, maybe years.”

With question marks hanging over the state of Blackburn’s finances and allegations of the club’s transfer strategy being dictated by selected agents, Singh insists that the summer investment in the squad dispels both concerns, with an insistence that, ‘If an agent has a player for us, we will talk to him and it doesn’t matter who the agent is.’

Wednesday’s fixture against Hull will paint a picture of the current mood of the supporters, however, and Singh admits that the team needs the backing of the fans to fuel the push for promotion.

“I have spoken to the fans’ groups and asked for a truce to be called,” Singh said. “But fans are fans; some will be supportive and others maybe not.

“We cannot tell the fans how to behave or how to react, but we hope that the team will play well enough for the fans to think, ‘we should be behind this lot.’